Florida Catholic | Hechos de Barro

Evangelizing through theater

Hechos de Barro (Made of Clay) Hispanic theatrical group takes a message of conversion to parishes.

YÉDICA LEAL | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Published: 02.15.08

Hechos de Barro (Made of Clay) presents a play on the life of St. Anthony María Claret, founder of the Claretian Missionaries, during at stop at St. Timothy Parish in Miami. Gustavo Mejia, center, founder and director of the group, plays St. Anthony María Claret after he was made bishop of Santiago, Cuba.
YÉDICA LEAL | FC

To join or find out about upcoming performances, contact Hechos de Barro at
305-300-6968.

MIAMI GARDENS | What started as a parish theatrical group has turned into an archdiocesan ministry.

The troupe, Hechos de Barro (Made of Clay), which began at Mother of Our Redeemer Parish in northwestern Miami-Dade County, is becoming known throughout the archdiocese for its use of theater to evangelize.

Made up of youths and young adults, the group toured 20 parishes last year performing its original work, “Siete pecados, una verdad” (Seven sins, one truth).

“We planned to end the performances to work on new projects but the Diocese of Venice called and asked us to perform in several parishes,” said Gustavo Mejía, founder and director of the troupe. “If the Lord wants us to continue spreading the message, we’ll go on.”

“Seven sins, one truth” was the troupe’s first work dedicated strictly to youths and their problems.

“Our performances are like a hook: We get young people interested in them so that, later on, we might see a conversion,” Mejía said.

The troupe’s mission is to incorporate events from daily life into their presentations in order to provide answers to the problems faced by youths in society.

“Our ministry is based on a novel approach to evangelizing. We aim to reach young people from within their own world, showing them what Jesus wants for their lives,” Mejía said.

“We show them what the Gospel means to young people so they can change and develop as Christians.”

Hechos de Barro was founded in 2001 by the young adult group from Mother of Our Redeemer Parish, Discípulos de Cristo (Disciples of Christ).

“We started by performing Christmas and Lenten–themed works during Masses,” said Anyely García, who has been part of the group since its inception.

Their then-pastor, Father Fernando Compaired, urged them to take on longer works and perform more frequently.

“When more people joined, we asked (current pastor) Father Jimmy Acevedo to give us permission to start a ministry so that we could take our theatrical works out to other parishes, groups and seminars,” said Mejía. “The last year and a half has been a blessing.”

Their next project, already in the works, is based on the book, La Cruz y el Puñal (The Cross and the Switchblade). The work is being reviewed by priests from the SouthEast Pastoral Institute because it deals with strong subject matter, including gangs.

“It is very good to restate what the church thinks about given situations. The play is based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, on themes related to young people’s lives and on the situations they are confronting,” said Mejía. “We are making very clear what the church thinks and why the church thinks it.”

Hechos de Barro exhorts young people who possess artistic talent to join in their evangelization work.

“This ministry does not belong to one parish; we want young people from all the parishes to become part of this ministry and serve the Lord,” Mejía said.

Yédica Leal writes for La Voz Católica, the Spanish-language monthly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Miami.

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